Jewish emissary welcomes everyone

Rabbi Yerachmiel Gorelik won’t shake a woman’s hand out of respect for her and his wife. He doesn’t use the telephone or electricity on Sabbath because it is a day of rest. And he won’t eat from sundown to sundown on Jewish fasting days, such as on Thursday, because those mark days of mourning.

These are the Orthodox traditions Gorelik brings to the area with the new Chabad Jewish Center of Northern Colorado, where dozens attended Rosh Hashana services last week. The center is preparing now for the most sacred Jewish holiday, Yom Kippur, on Wednesday and Thursday.

Gorelik welcomes anyone curious in Judaism to visit the center. But he makes one thing very clear: “I am a Jewish emissary. Not a missionary.”

He knows he draws attention from people distracted by his thick beard, mustache and Australian accent. There are no Orthodox rabbis between northern Colorado and Canada. But it is against the Torah to encourage conversions, he said. Gorelik just might discourage someone from converting.

“It is difficult to be Jewish,” he said. “I advise people to attend their own churches. It would be wrong to give spiritual direction to people who are not Jewish. We (also) don’t force Jews to be Orthodox.”

But the Chabad Center is open to everyone, including non-Jews. It offers what he calls “buffet-style” Judaism. People can get a taste of something Jewish.

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He invites people to “come to my family. Join my table.”

He means that literally as the Chabad Center operates out of his home, which is how many Chabad Centers start, he said.

Gorelik, his wife, Devorah Leah, and their 1-year-old daughter, Basya, arrived about a month ago from New York City. Gorelik comes from a rabbinic family — his grandfather and father in Australia were also rabbis.

Emissaries often end up places where there is little representation, he said. Part of Gorelik’s mission is to help Jewish people observe traditional commandments in a modern culture.

He wants to start a student organization at the University of Northern Colorado, such as the Chabad Jewish Student Alliance started at Colorado State University in Fort Collins.

Gorelik, who speaks “Hebrew, Yiddish and a smattering of Russian,” wants to be a voice in an area where Jews have been relatively quiet.

“Finally, people in northern Colorado have an opportunity to explore Judaism. They have an address. They don’t have to look on the Internet or in another city,” he said.

ABOUT YOM KIPPUR

Yom Kippur is the Jewish day of repentance, considered to be the holiest and most solemn day of the year. Its central theme is atonement and reconciliation.

Eating, drinking, bathing, cosmetics, wearing leather (including shoes), and conjugal relations are prohibited. Fasting — total abstention from all food and drink — begins a bit before sundown (called “tosephet” Yom Kippur, the addition of fasting for part of the previous day is required by Jewish law), and ends after nightfall the following day.

Prayer services begin with the prayer known as “Kol Nidre,” which must be recited before sunset. Kol Nidre, Aramaic for “all vows,” is a public annulment of all vows that will be made during the coming year.

Yom Kippur completes the penitential period of 10 days (the season of repentance and prayer) that begins with Rosh Hashanah (New Year’s Day); for though prayerful humiliation be acceptable at all times, it is thought to be peculiarly potent at that time.